Cyprus halts drilling talks with Total-Novatek

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus has broken off licensing negotiations for offshore natural gas drilling with a consortium made up of French firm Total S.A. and Russia's Novatek.

Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou says that progress in those talks were "unsatisfactory."

Stefanou said Wednesday negotiations will begin with a company composed of Italy's ENI S.p.a and South Korea's Kogas for the same area — or block — that the Russian-French consortium had sought to drill in.

The ENI-Kogas company is already negotiating with Cyprus to drill in two other blocks.